NEW GERMAN COALITION AGREEMENT ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRESENTED TO NPG-SG

CONFIDENTIAL C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000496 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019 TAGS: PREL, MNUC, NATO, KNNP, KACT SUBJECT: NEW GERMAN COALITION AGREEMENT ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRESENTED TO NPG-SG Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern for reasons 1.4(B)&(D). 1. (C) Summary: On 29 October 2009 the German Representative to the Nuclear Planning Group Staff Group (NPG-SG) came with formal instructions from the German Ministry of Defense to emphasize that, while the new German coalition agreement calls for the active support of new disarmament and arms control agreements, it will do this in consultation with the Alliance and bilaterally with the US. End Summary. 2. (C) The German Representative presented official guidance, highlighting a key passage from his instructions while noting this was not an official translation, "We will actively support the conclusion of new disarmament and arms control agreements at international level. We will use the 2010 NPT Review Conference to give new impetus to efforts aimed at working out a treaty regime. In this context and in the process of elaborating NATO's new strategic concept we will express our desire - both within the Alliance and vis-a-vis our American Allies - that the remaining nuclear weapons be withdrawn from Germany." There was some discussion around the table that the phrase "will express our desire" is actually more powerful in its original German form. 3. (C) The German Representative further stated Germany supports a comprehensive, credible, and verifiable nuclear disarmament process which takes into account security and stability. From this purely national perspective, Germany would therefore be ready to work towards withdrawal of all US nuclear weapons from German soil within the scope of a disarmament treaty and on the basis of a common Alliance decision. 4. (C) The German national strategy, the representative said, must not be misunderstood to mean that Germany wants to go it alone. The coalition agreement explicitly states that Germany does not want to take unilateral action. 5. (C) Germany remains committed to the principles of NATO's nuclear policy as set out in the 1999 Strategic Concept. The representative ended by stressing that Germany will always honor its commitments to the Alliance and make the contributions required to ensure solidarity and fair burden-sharing. HEFFERN